What is God's revelation? Divine revelation

INTRODUCTION

1. NATURAL REVELATION OF GOD

2.WHY DOES MAN NEED GOD’S REVELATION?

3.SUPERNATURAL REVELATION OF GOD

4. PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF GOD'S REVELATION

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

God, who created our earth and populated it with a variety of living creatures, definitely had a plan for his creations. Man, created by the Creator in His image and likeness, has always sought to unravel the mysteries of existence and the One with whom it all began and with whom it all will end. But knowledge of God is impossible for man through his own efforts, since the limited human mind is not able to comprehend the infinite God. This is possible only if the Lord Himself wants to reveal Himself to man in His revelation.

In Christian teaching, Divine revelation refers to everything that God Himself revealed to people about Himself and about true faith in Him. God communicates His revelation to people in two ways: natural and supernatural.

By natural revelation, the Lord reveals Himself to every person, through the world we see (nature) and through our conscience, as well as through the history of all mankind. The whole world around us is great God's revelation, testifying to the omnipotence of God the Creator. By looking at the world created by God, a person can know its Creator, “For His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world by looking at what has been made” (1 Rom. 1:20). But this knowledge is imperfect and can only serve as some aid to the knowledge of God. That is why the Lord complements natural revelation with supernatural revelation, which was revealed in all its fullness and perfection in Jesus Christ.

The purpose of writing this work is to consider issues related to God's revelation. And why is this revelation progressive in nature, that is, the Lord reveals himself to us step by step, gradually giving us what we are able to accept as we grow in the faith of Christ.

1.NATURAL REVELATION OF GOD

By creating our world, the Lord seemed to pour Himself into it, leaving a lot of evidence about Himself. A scientist who studies natural laws will see the trinity of many physical things, just as our Lord is triune: three-dimensional space, three states of matter, three basic times - past, present and future, etc.

Even a person far from science can notice the harmony, order and harmony of the surrounding world. It is similar to an orchestra, where, with all the variety of instruments and scores controlled by the conductor, a single harmonious melody is created. But seeing this harmony is possible for a person who thinks and asks questions, who is able to stop and calm the inner turmoil. You can compare this with a dialogue that God begins in the world he created and continues by man. Here is the answer to the question “Why does God need this mystery, why not come openly?” Yes, because in order to know God, something must move in the sinful and corrupted human consciousness, some movement towards the eternal must begin.

In my opinion, this is very accurately conveyed by the words of St. Parthenius of Kyiv, “If we do not see God with our hearts on earth, we will not see him in heaven.” This revelation of God, which is visible in the nature He created, tells man that there is a Creator, an Architect of the entire world visible to us. But this revelation is not enough to know what God is like and what His plan is for us. Having taken his gaze away from the outside world, a thinking person directs it inside himself. If there is a Creator who left His signs in the world around us, then it is fair to assume that He left similar signs in us.

And indeed we have the voice of God within us, which tells us what is right and what is wrong, what behavior is worthy and what deserves reproach. We are born with this mark of God within us - this is our conscience. Until a person sinned, conscience did not reveal itself in any way, since it had nothing to define in a person as bad or unworthy. But the sin committed by Adam and Eve awakened her to work. It was their conscience that forced them to hide from God after committing a sin.

The Lord endowed man with a conscience, since he created him in his own image and likeness. And also because, in his immeasurable love, the Creator wanted to warn us against crazy actions. After all, if we don’t know God, what can keep us on the edge of a cliff and prevent us from completely plunging into sin? Only the conscience given to us by God, which, like a guide, protects us in the sea of ​​passions, although not completely, since our sinful nature has learned to drown out its voice. But even this revelation of God in our conscience is not enough. Since it does not give knowledge about God himself and, as mentioned above, our conscience itself is distorted and dulled due to sin. Being a rational being, man is capable of studying and analyzing. And so we often look at what happened to us and how it affected our present. In a word, we study our history. Here the Lord also manifests himself in his revelations. After all, it is He who is the manager of the destinies of entire nations, some enter the arena of history and rise, others fade into oblivion. We may not fully understand why the Lord disposes of us this way, but there can be no doubt that everything is ultimately determined by Him. “But God is a judge: He humiliates one, and exalts another” (1, Ps. 74:58] .

And the Bible gives us vivid examples of God's management of history. On its pages we see how God led his people out of Egypt, how He led to the fall of the Assyrian empire, the whole history of the Israeli people is the history of their relationship with God, which determined the entire way of their life: civil and moral laws, the system of sacrifices and holidays. As we can see, the revelation of God in nature, in conscience and in history is universal and open to everyone. It allows us to see and understand that there is a Creator who created the world we see, but this revelation is not complete, since it does not give us personal knowledge of God.

2.WHY DOES MAN NEED GOD’S REVELATION?

What is the value of God's revelation? Why do Christians discuss this topic so much and each of us so passionately wants to receive these revelations? In answering this question, several points can be highlighted:

Without divine revelation, man would never have received answers to pressing questions about the origin of life, the meaning of human life, death, and what happens after death.

Without Divine revelation, man would not be able to distinguish good from evil. We simply would not know what is good and what is bad.

Without Divine revelation, man would be left without a plan of salvation. The inner voice, conscience, tells a person that his soul needs healing. In search of an answer, he wanders in the dark, but cannot find an answer. Without God's revelation as a remedy against sin, man would continue a meaningless existence.

Without Divine revelation we would never know God.

With his natural mind, a person can only partially approach God by cognizing His natural attributes.

Of course, seeing the power of God in nature, knowing His actions is good. But building a personal relationship with God, learning the moral character of God, can only be built with the help of another order of knowledge, which a person is completely unable to achieve on his own - this is Divine Revelation. The Lord wants us to know Him, only then is communication between corruptible man and Almighty God possible. The Lord himself solved the problem of our separation by sending His Son into the world “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed” (1 John 1:18).

And with His coming into the world, the Lord opened the era of revelation. The Lord has become so close that everyone can come to him. So the purpose of revelation is man’s communication with God the Creator. Revelation is also valuable because it encourages the cooperation of those who have entered into communication with the Lord.

In other words, the Lord introduces us into ministry. And therefore, only that service is valuable which is based not on human desire and vision, but on communication with God. And this happens because communication with God is impossible without love for Him, and love for God produces love for people. For example, the ministry of a prophet began with the fact that he heard God, accepted His word by faith, then the need of a perishing people was revealed to him and he began to convey the revelation received from God for the salvation of this people. The ministry of the prophet was successful only if he was in close communication with God. Since ministry requires God's constant guidance, it is impossible without revelation. So, revelation is valuable because it brings us into communication with God, gives us the opportunity to serve Him, reveals His will to us and directs our path.

SUPERNATURAL REVELATION OF GOD

Unlike God's natural revelation in nature, in conscience and in history, supernatural revelation reveals to us God Himself, His nature, His will. This revelation is of a special nature, since it is revealed to special people. Such revelations include:

1.Revelation of God in miracles

2.God's Revelation in Prophecy

.Revelation of God in Jesus Christ

.God's Revelation in Scripture

.God's revelation in personal experience

A miracle is a phenomenon that a person cannot explain based on known laws; it is an act of supernatural intervention in the laws of nature.

The Bible describes many miracles performed by God. Moreover, being unlimited by nothing, the Lord uses many various forms. It is enough to recall the ten plagues of Egypt, or the passage along the bottom of the Black Sea when the waters parted, or the long day of Joshua. Miracles are a revelation of God's power. However, their true goal is not a demonstration of power, but the desire of God to bless and return man to the true path. The greatest miracle created by the Lord was the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The prophets of the Old Testament were people specially called by God and supernaturally endowed with the ability to convey God's messages to people. God put His word in their mouths and directed the hand of the prophets as they wrote down what He said. A prophecy was both a prediction of what would happen and a declaration God's will. The Holy Spirit, descending on the prophets, endowed them with the gift of putting into human words what God wanted to convey to people. This is why Bible prophecies often began with the words, “The Lord speaks.” Prophecy is a revelation of God's infinite knowledge.

The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is the most complete, so in it the Lord reveals himself to man with all facets of His personality, clearly showing His will, character, His essence as such. Therefore, when people say “Show me God and I will believe,” we can safely say - look at Jesus Christ - He is the expression of God in human form. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed Him” (1 John 1:18). The Evangelist speaks so simply and clearly about this in Scripture. There is nothing higher and more complete than this revelation.

4. The revelation of God in Scripture is the written word, that is, in written form. Miracles and prophecies revealed God directly to those who could see and hear them. Jesus Christ, who walked and taught, was a great blessing to those who walked next to him, who witnessed the presence of the living God on earth. But over time, an urgent need arose to convey revelations to all nations. And then God wrote the Bible. Although this book was written by forty different men in three languages, its undisputed Author is God Himself. He inspired the people by directing His revelation into the human mind in such a perfect manner that undistorted truth was revealed to the world.

5. Revelation in personal experience. Throughout the existence of God's relationship with man, millions of people have come to know God through their own experience, that is, they have seen His undoubted action in their lives. There are many similar examples in the Holy Scriptures, dating back to both the Old and New Testaments. It is enough to remember Noah, who walked with God “...Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God" (1, Gen. 6:9), Moses, to whom the Lord revealed himself in the burning bush, "... and God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said: Moses! Moses! He said: here I am!” (1, Ex. 3:4), the Apostle Paul, who received a personal revelation from God “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? (1, Acts 9:4). If we look at people who lived not so long ago, we will see that God's revelations were present in their lives. What may be very interesting here is the fact that many of the scientists we know who made discoveries in various fields of knowledge were believers. And they were such not despite their type of activity, but quite the opposite, thanks to the fact that as a result of their research, the Lord was revealed to them.

Newton, the great scientist who discovered the laws of motion of celestial bodies, as if exposing greatest secret universe, was a believer and studied theology.

The mathematical genius Pascal, one of the creators of new physics, was not just a believer, but also one of the greatest religious thinkers in Europe. He said: “all the contradictions that most of all seem to want to remove me from the position of religion most of all and have led to it.”

The founder of all modern bacteriology, Pasteur, who penetrated deeper than others into the mystery of organic life, said: “The more I study nature, the more I stand in awe of the works of the Creator.”

The astronomer Kepler exclaims: “Oh, great is our Lord and great is His power, and His wisdom knows no bounds. And you, my soul, sing the glory of Your Lord throughout your life.”

THE PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF GOD'S REVELATION

And as was said above, God the Creator has his own perfect plan for everything created in the Universe. And God's revelation serves precisely to fulfill this plan. The goal for all humanity is for every person to achieve the likeness of God. This is the great goal for man. It cannot be reduced only to becoming better, cleaner, more honest, more generous; but - to become by grace like Christ.

In the world that God had just created, the first people, before they sinned, talked with God and felt God’s grace. This became possible because God revealed Himself and this was God's first revelation to man. In God’s plan, a person had to be a priest - in order to accept his existence and the world as a gift of God and in response give joyful praise and thanksgiving to the Creator, a prophet - in order to know Divine secrets, king - to reign over external visible nature and one’s own. If man had not sinned, then everything would have been exactly like this. And he would be a king, a priest, a prophet. But this did not happen; sin entered God’s perfect world, distorting both man himself and the world around him beyond recognition. Sin changed the Universe, our earth and man himself. Man exchanged love and obedience to God for the so-called self, thereby cutting himself off from God. But the Lord, out of compassion for His creation, wants to restore man to the lost state of priest, prophet and king. It is necessary to understand that the sin that entered the world struck a person right in the heart, changing his nature. It's not like having dirty hands that can be washed. Sinful dirt entered inside and began to be transmitted from fathers to children. The final consequence of sin entering the world was death. Disease and death entered the world because sin opened the door to them, and nature and man became vulnerable to them. But the spiritual death of man became more terrible than physical death due to endless separation from God.

God is life. Separation with him is separation with physical and spiritual life. Therefore, the fact that humanity is constantly struggling with diseases that destroy the human body, the number of which is increasing, has its origins in the Garden of Eden. Man became a victim of his own rebellion and dead to God. The Lord drove man out of the Garden of Eden “And the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which it was taken” (1, Gen. 3:23). But being God, perfect in love, the Lord at the same time gave people hope, saying, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel” (1 Gen. 3:15).

With the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the story of man's return to God begins, the story of how God raised people. You can call this Divine pedagogy. It is similar to the human relationship between father and son. As a little boy, the son unconditionally trusts his father. Having become a teenager, having found new idols, he begins to consider his father as not understanding anything in life and, as a result, stops listening and obeying him. Having matured, having gone through life's losses and victories, the son is able to appreciate the wisdom and love of his father. Centuries before the coming of Jesus Christ, humanity learned many lessons. Prophets, historians, poets, and interpreters have recorded in their works an understanding of the nature and character of God. People inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote down on paper everything that has come down to us as the Old Testament. By recording their personal experiences, they also reflected God's plan for the salvation of mankind. Having sinned, man no longer had a close spiritual union with God, he could no longer understand what was on the heart of the Father or what God was saying to his children. Over the centuries, the lessons were firmly learned, and arose Holy Bible, which reflected the character and love of God. Periodically, the Holy Spirit revealed to the Old Testament writers prophecies regarding the future that hinted at more than the simple fulfillment of the law. It is unlikely that the authors themselves understood such lines as: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner” (1, Ps. 117:22), and the Old Testament is full of similar revelations. When Jesus came, the Jewish people were under the rule of the Roman Empire.

For the majority, the Messiah was precisely the one who was supposed to deliver from this tyranny. The Lord chose Joseph and Mary to fulfill His plan. And the fact that they were able to accept and understand the words of the angel who visited them is the result of God’s preparation that preceded these events, His Divine pedagogy. The entire previous history of the Jewish people and their relationships prepared that time and those people to receive the amazing message. Since the visitation of angels is very specific, the confidence of human beings is all the more valuable. We can imagine the joy with which they accepted what was about to happen to them, how they rejoiced at Simeon’s welcoming words, now known to the whole world: “Now you are releasing Your servant, O Master, according to Your word, in peace; For mine eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all nations, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (1, Luke 2:29-32). Simeon knew that he could now die in peace, since the Child about whom he had been prophesied had now been born. His life's work is over; God has fulfilled His Word.

Joseph, through an angel, knew about the calling of little Jesus to save the people from their sins: “She will give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus; for He will save His people from their sins” (1 Matt. 1:21). However, nothing was said about how He could achieve this goal. It was difficult for ordinary people to understand how a child who gave birth could redeem the whole world from sin. This revelation is given by Jesus himself in a conversation with Nicodemus, simply saying that God so loved the world (that is, the people He created) that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. The Lord, who came in the flesh to earth, revealed a complete revelation about Himself and about salvation for man. It can be said that God's revelation throughout the centuries is God's school.

divine revelation believer spirituality

CONCLUSION

From the moment of the fall of Adam and Eve until today, the Lord comes to meet man, caring and supporting him in his hope of salvation. People repeatedly violated His commandments, but the Lord did not depart from His plan to save humanity. He chose Abraham and gave a special role to the people of Israel, led them with the help of Moses from Egyptian slavery and tested and strengthened their faith in the desert. Then the Lord made His covenant on Mount Sinai. He allowed attacks on Israel and called them to repentance through the prophets. So, for thousands of years, God prepared the souls of people to meet the Savior, revealing himself throughout this time.

Jesus, who appeared to the world, revealed God's full revelation for the salvation of the entire human race “God, who spoke of old in many ways and in various ways to the fathers in the prophets, last days These things he spoke to us in the Son” (1 Heb. 1:1-2). Thus, the Creator descends to perishing people, gives them His revelations and patiently leads them along the paths of salvation.

Bibliography

2.Kevin J. Conner Fundamentals of Christian Doctrine Part I. Practical guide Christian doctrine. - Kharkov: “SIM”, 2012, -74 p.

3. God's Law

4.Ufa diocese Divine revelation

G. Hololob. Salvation during the period of general revelation

Newspaper "Protestant"

Revelation of God Explanation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Frank S.L. Religion and Science

Archbishop Michael (Mudyugin). Introduction to Basic Theology.

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Divine revelation occurs to a person when God reveals Himself to each of us in a natural way - through the world we see, nature and through our conscience.

Considering the world around us, we come to know God through the beauty and harmony that fills it. We enjoy the sight of moving clouds and flowering plants, which come in many different colors and types. We listen to the singing of birds, woven from wonderful melodies... Looking into the depths of the sea, we enjoy the extraordinary beauty of the fish...

Looking at the stars scattered across the sky like beads, we never cease to be amazed that these are all separate worlds. Many of the stars are the same as our sun and moon, but there are some that are many times larger. They all move harmoniously and in harmony along their own trajectories.

Contemplating the space around us, a person asks himself the question - who is the Creator of all the diversity and splendor of our planet? After all, there is nothing random in nature, everything is thought out and interconnected. The whole world around us is great book revelation of God, testifying to the omnipotence and wisdom of God the Creator..

However, natural revelation through nature alone is not enough. Sin darkens a person's mind, conscience and will, the heart becomes callous, and a person becomes unable to notice the amazing harmony of the world. That is why the Lord supplements natural revelation with supernatural ones - miracles and words that He reveals to man Himself and through His Angels.

Not all people are worthy to accept revelation from God Himself, and the Lord chooses special, righteous people who can accept this revelation. The most complete revelation was brought to earth by the incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. This Divine revelation is now spreading among people and is preserved in the true Holy Orthodox Church through Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture.

From the beginning of the world until Moses there was holy books, and the teaching about the faith of God was transmitted orally - by Tradition, that is, by word and example, from one to another, and from ancestors to descendants. Subsequently, in order for the Divine Revelation to be preserved quite accurately, at the inspiration of the Lord, some holy people wrote down the most important things in books. God the Holy Spirit Himself invisibly helped them so that everything that was written in these books was correct and true. All these books, written by the Spirit of God through the prophets, apostles and other sanctified people, are called Holy Scripture, or the Bible.

We divide the Bible into two unequal parts - the more ancient, Old, or Old Testament, and the later, the New Testament. The Old Testament depicts a huge historical process, which passed before the eyes of contemporaries for about two thousand years. The New Testament covers the period of the earthly life of the God-man Jesus Christ and his closest followers. For us Christians, of course, the New Testament is more important.

The main content of the New Testament is that God really sent people the promised Savior, His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave the New Testament to people. We need to study Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition in order to learn more about God, who created the world for the life and benefit of people - for each of us. God loves us so endlessly.

And if we love God and live according to His law, then much in the world will become clear and understandable to us. And our soul will be full of harmony, love and joy. This joy will never end, and no one will take it away, because God Himself will be with us...

Chapter VI

REVELATION

One of the essential elements of both the Christian and any other religious worldview is the conviction of the possibility and necessity for man of Divine Revelation. And although the doctrine of Revelation in different religions has its own characteristics, and often suffers from a deep misunderstanding of its nature, the very faith in Revelation always remains. Christianity is based entirely on Revelation, it owes its emergence to it, it “lives and moves and exists.” Therefore, it is so important to consider the basic issues related to the understanding and meaning of Revelation in Orthodoxy.

§1. Types of revelations

It is necessary to distinguish supernatural Revelation from the so-called. natural knowledge of God, often also called revelation. By supernatural Revelation we mean the special action of God on man, giving him true knowledge about God, about man, about salvation. It is divided into general and individual.

General Revelation given by God through specially chosen people - prophets and apostles for the proclamation of those fundamental truths, the confession and fulfillment of which is necessary for the salvation of each person, the whole world or an individual nation. This is, firstly, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Revelation of the Lord the Holy Spirit, i.e. all Holy Scripture and Tradition of the New Testament, secondly, “the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12) - the Old Testament Revelation recorded in the Bible (Old Testament), although the latter is in many ways not perfect, not complete, does not have that universal character, which is inherent in the New Testament Revelation.

By individual revelation This is the name given to such a supernatural visit by God to individuals, mainly saints, during which the secrets of the Kingdom of God, the human soul, and the world were revealed to them. Most of these revelations are of such a nature that they “cannot be retold” to another person who does not have the corresponding spiritual experience (2 Cor. 12:4). Therefore, in the patristic writings and in hagiographic literature, although the facts of revelation to the saints are reported, however, as a rule, only their external side is conveyed. At the same time, individual revelations do not communicate any fundamentally new truths in comparison with the Gospel ones, but provide a deeper, more experienced knowledge of what has already been given in general Revelation.

Natural revelation, or natural knowledge of God, represents that understanding of God, His existence and properties, as well as man and the purpose of his life, which a seeking person receives on the basis of studying and knowing himself and the world around him. The Apostle Paul writes about this knowledge of God: “For His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world by looking at what has been made” (Rom. 1:20). Indeed, many pagan thinkers of antiquity, who did not know the supernatural Revelation, but sought the truth and reflected on the essence of being and meaning human life, came to a firm conviction in the existence of one God, Creator, Provider and Judge of the world (for example, Heraclitus, Socrates, Xenophon). This process of natural search for God and knowledge of God is always inherent in man. To this day, many come to faith in God without actually knowing the Revelation of the supernatural.

However, natural knowledge of God, even in its highest achievements, always suffers from significant incompleteness, great uncertainty, defectiveness, and vagueness, and therefore often leads a person away from the true religious path of life. The so-called natural (pagan) religions (for example, modern African religions, Hinduism, Buddhism), as well as a great variety of different religious and philosophical systems, mystical and syncretic sects and “churches” are a fairly impressive illustration of the teachings that one natural "feeling of God" This is understandable. Where there are no criteria, where “man is the measure of all things” and everyone can consider their own understanding as the measure of truth, there the doors are always open for recognizing any idea as true and thus leaving the Truth Itself. Hence the need for a special Revelation of God, the truth of which would be appropriately attested, becomes obvious.

§2. Signs of supernatural Revelation

Are there any signs by which one could distinguish the general supernatural Revelation from natural human teachings, insights, and guesses? Without touching the Revelation of the Old Testament, as having already fulfilled its main mission and having essentially become the property of history [See. Ch. XI: Old Testament religion.](Heb. 8; 7, 13), let us dwell on Christian Revelation.

The first of the signs, the most obvious for everyone who begins to read the New Testament, is the moral height, holiness and deep purity of the ideal to which a person is called. Non-retribution of evil for evil, love for everyone, even for personal enemies, readiness to give one’s soul for others, and finally, a stunning example of the personality of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself - God, who humbled himself to the point of real incarnation and execution on the cross for the sake of saving man - all this is incomparable to any other the teachings of the world, with none of its ideals. In general, no religion (including the Old Testament), no philosophy, knew anything like this. This alone makes it possible to feel the otherworldliness of Christianity, its supernatural origins.

An impressive fact testifying to the divine revelation of Christian doctrine is its dogmas about God the Trinity, the Incarnation, Salvation through the Cross, the Resurrection and others. These central truths of Christianity are as different in essence from the religious and philosophical analogues that preceded it as, figuratively speaking, a child for a woman is different from the doll with which she played in childhood. It is no coincidence that the Apostle Paul exclaims: “But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks” (1 Cor. 1:23). The subsequent history of Christianity fully confirmed this idea. The fact that they have constantly tried and are trying to “correct” Christian doctrine and make it either, in order to avoid “temptation,” a natural continuation of Judaism, erasing from it the belief in the Divine and messianic dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ, or, in order to get rid of the “madness” before the face of the pagan world - logically “justified” by ethical-philosophical teaching - is clear evidence that the New Testament Revelation is not the fruit of human wisdom. The unique, in its own way, “otherness” of Christianity among other religions, its philosophical “absurdity” (remember Tertullian’s: credo, quia absurdum est) once again points to the unearthly source of Christian teaching, to that “unwise of God” that is “wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).

Prophecies are clear evidence of the supernatural nature of Revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures. In this case, prophecies mean such predictions that were not and could not be based on any scientific calculations or special knowledge of psychology, history, economics, politics, etc.; these inexplicable natural causes and predictions of future events extending many centuries into the future have always been a serious religious argument.

Thus, in the Gospel of Luke (written in 63) [New Testament. Brussels, 1964. P. 420] it is reported that the Virgin Mary, in a state of special spiritual uplift, says: “From now on all generations will bless Me” (Luke 1:48). The Evangelist did not hesitate to write down these words of the young Girl, although in the natural order to do such a thing would be tantamount to madness. And so, from the first century to the present day, all Christian peoples glorify Her.

In the Gospel of Matthew we find direct prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ about the future of His Gospel: “And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matthew 24:14); about the fate of the Jewish people and Jerusalem: “Truly I say to you: there will not be left one stone upon another here; everything will be destroyed” (Matthew 23, 35-38; 24, 2; Luke 21, 20-24,32) (“Matthew compiled his Gospel, in all likelihood, around 62 AD." [Ibid. P. 408], and the destruction of Jerusalem occurred in 70); about the Church: “And on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18); about the future of Christianity: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8); about the appearance of false Christs and false prophets (Matthew 24:2326; Luke 21:8); about future persecution of Christians (Luke 21:12-17); that “some... will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1) (here we're talking about about all the saints, starting with the Mother of God and the Apostles, who survived, “saw” before their death all the power, glory and bliss of the Kingdom of Christ).

The fulfillment of these prophecies can be seen (and not just believed in) by every modern person. We find a strict prophecy-warning in the Apostle Peter (2 Pet. 3:10), which is understandable in light of the possible consequences of new scientific and technological experiments or military disasters.

Many of the prophecies of the Revelation of St. John the Theologian have a similar meaning (see, for example, Chapter 16).

It is necessary to note the significant difference between various kinds of predictions of a mystical nature and Christian prophecies. These predictions, firstly, do not contain the main thing - a stimulus for moral change in a person and his spiritual renewal (repentance); secondly, when they are of a specific nature (which is an exception), then, apart from the rarest coincidences, they simply do not come true (it is enough, for example, to carefully check the predictions of astrologers); thirdly, the overwhelming majority of predictions are of such an indefinite, vague nature that they can easily be applied to any version of subsequent events and attributed to a wide variety of events. In this regard, the confessions of one of the most famous predictors, Nostradamus, are very revealing.

“I testify that... most of the prophecies were accompanied by the movement of the firmament, and I saw, as if in a shining mirror in a foggy vision (hereinafter, it is emphasized by us - A.O.) great, sad, amazing and unfortunate events and adventures, which were approaching the most important cultures..." [Maxim Genin. Nostradamus. Centuries. Selected fragments. Kharkov, 1991. P. 67-08.].

I think I can predict many things if I can reconcile my innate instinct with the art of long calculation. But this requires great mental balance, a state of mind predisposing to divination and the liberation of the soul from all worries and worries. I predicted most of my prophecies with the help of a bronze tripod "ex tripode oenio", although many attribute to me the possession of magical things..." [Ibid. P. 152]. All calculations were made by me in accordance with the movement of the heavenly bodies and interaction with the senses , which gripped me in hours of inspiration, and my moods and emotions were inherited by me from my ancient ancestors" (Nostradamus was a Jew) [Ibid. P. 154]. “And I connect much of the Divine with the movement and course of the heavenly bodies. It seems as if you are looking through a lens and seeing, as if in a fog, great and sad events and tragic incidents...” [Ibid. P. 155].

There is no doubt about the source of Nostradamus' astrological calculation "prophecies". This source has long been known and in the language of the Church Fathers it is called obsession or prelest.

One of the explanations for the nature of those few predictions that do come true is that every person, as an image of God, has the property of foresight, premonition - although manifested to a sufficiently acute degree is rare. However, in a person who has not been cleansed of passions by fulfilling the Gospel commandments, this property acts in such a way, “as if you are looking through a lens and seeing as if in a fog.” Moreover, all such predictors (magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, fortune-tellers, etc.), some consciously, others unconsciously, due to their spiritual impurity, are under the influence of dark spirits of lies. Therefore, the unanimous voice of the holy fathers of all eras resolutely prohibits turning to them, believing them, and disseminating their “information.” If the blind lead the blind, then both will fall into the pit" (Matthew 15:14) of deception, frustration, delusion, despair, suicide.

Miracles are of great importance for the contemporaries of Christ and the apostles and retain their significance for the conviction of the Divinity of the Christian Gospel to this day.

A miracle means such an extraordinary impact of God on a person or nature, which, as a rule, goes beyond the boundaries of known natural laws and puts a person with all evidence and certainty in the face of the real presence of God in the world. Miracles are external (for example, resurrection of the dead, the cessation of a storm) and internal (for example, an unexpected complete moral rebirth of a thief, a publican, a harlot; the emergence during prayer of extreme inner joy during severe sorrow or illness), whine, and others are united by one thing in common - this is a person’s consciousness of the Divine influence on him and his response (positive or negative) towards God. A true miracle (vision, healing, etc.) is always associated with a spiritual and moral change in a person (repentance, turning to God or, on the contrary, bitterness, fighting against God) (cf. Luke 19:8 and John 12:10). In this it differs both from tricks, hallucinations, hypnosis, extrasensory perception, and from “miracles” invented by human imagination (Buddha, for example, to prove the truth of his teachings, reached out to the back of his head with the tip of his tongue: or, according to one Christian apocrypha, little Jesus Christ did made of clay birds and brought them to life, etc.), which act on the imagination, psyche, and nerves of a person, but leave his heart the same, do not change the moral and spiritual state of his soul, the nature of his life.

Miracles in Christianity have at all times been one of those forces thanks to which it, surrounded on all sides by mortal enemies: Jews and pagans, kings and commoners, slaves and freemen, conquered most of the Universe. And to this day, a person who gets acquainted with the Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, and the history of Christianity is faced with an amazing miracle of the preservation and spread of the Christian faith amid terrible persecution - the miracle of the existence of the Church.

Wonderful historical fact, confirming the unearthly origin of Christianity, are those gifts and revelations that were received by those walking along the path indicated by the Gospel of Christ - Christian saints. Venerables, martyrs, righteous, glorified and unglorified saints of the most different countries proved not by dry logic and naked reason, but by life, deeds, suffering, their very death, miracles, insights, phenomena of extraordinary spiritual power acting in them, that Christianity is not the fruit of someone’s “fantasy, not a refined morality or a peculiar philosophy, but the real path of a person to genuine good, temporary and eternal, to the knowledge of the Truth, to the acquisition of Truth - the path announced by God and leading to Him.

These are some of the arguments confirming the “unnatural” origin of the New Testament Gospel, its unearthly, divinely revealed character. His final, vital recognition is conditioned, of course, not so much by the weight of arguments and evidence, but by the desire of the person himself to follow the sacredness that is revealed to him in the Gospel.

From the recognition of the Divine origin of the New Testament Revelation, naturally follows the recognition of the same for the Old Testament Revelation (Matthew 5: 17-18), although this, of course, does not mean their equivalence, since the Old Testament was only preparatory to the coming of Christ and had a temporary ( Heb. 7; 18-19, 22; 5-8, 13; 9, 8-10; 10, 1), imperfect. The Old Testament Revelation, in essence, was focused exclusively on the psychology and spiritual level of the Jewish people (Matthew 19:89) and therefore did not have that universal, all-human character that we see in the New Testament Revelation: “one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon... "(1 Cor. 15:41).

§ 3. Signs of individual revelation

A more complex and subtle question is to clarify the signs of the truth of individual revelation. This question is extremely important, since it concerns the essence of spiritual life, and entering spiritual world always involves a huge risk: whoever enters through a door that does not enter it suffers the fate of a thief and a robber (John 10:1)! Curiosity, frivolity, and daydreaming in this area are like frivolously looking into a flask with deadly bacteria. It is well known, for example, that those actively involved in spiritualism, as a rule, either commit suicide or completely upset their psyche. All other types of occultism lead to the same thing.

Illegal entry into the spiritual world is scary. It certainly gives rise to false revelations, which further captivate and destroy spiritually and physically inexperienced people, unfamiliar with the fundamentals of spiritual life and the Holy Tradition of the Church. Among the latest striking examples of such “revelations” we can point to prophecies emanating from the so-called. “The Mother of God Center” or “white brothers”, whose fantastic arbitrariness in the interpretation of Christianity quite eloquently testifies to the nature and dignity of these “revelations” [See, for example: ZhMP. 1992. No. 6. "About false teachings..."].

What is a necessary condition, according to Orthodox teaching, for the “discernment of spirits”? The answer to this question is thoroughly and accurately given, for example, in the article of St. Ignatius “A Sermon on the Sensual and on the Spiritual Vision of Spirits” [Bp. Ignatius Brianchaninov. Works: In 5 volumes. 3rd ed. St. Petersburg, 1905. T. 3.]. Here we point out only the most essential in this matter.

The general basis for legal entry into the spiritual world in order to obtain true knowledge (revelation) about it is the correct (righteous) spiritual life, which presupposes knowledge of the basics Orthodox faith, principles of spiritual life.

According to the testimony of Holy Scripture and the teaching of the Church, the most important condition and a sign of a person’s correct spiritual structure is the presence in his soul of a feeling of repentance, contrition of heart, from which flows the most important thing in spiritual life - humility. In the Gospel it is called spiritual poverty (Matthew 5:3), which means the consciousness of one’s own powerlessness in the fight against passions, a vision of the perilousness of one’s current spiritual state. This spiritual poverty is the only (!) solid foundation on which it is only possible for a person to receive true revelation, indicating the path to entering the Kingdom of God Himself. For the Lord gives revelations to man not to satisfy the curiosity of an idle mind and an empty heart, but only for the purpose of his salvation and spiritual improvement.

Saint Ignatius wrote that “the first spiritual vision is the vision of one’s sins, hitherto hidden behind oblivion and ignorance” [Ibid. P. 56]. “The vision of our shortcomings is a safe vision! The vision of our fall and redemption is the most necessary vision” [Ibid. T. 2. P. 59]. “All the saints recognized themselves as unworthy of God: by this they demonstrated their dignity, which consisted in humility” [Ibid. P. 126].

The very nature of revelations also matters in determining their truth. If before the fall man was capable of directly seeing spirits and communicating with them, then in his present state their appearances are possible for him only at the special discretion of God and in times of extreme need [Ibid. T. 3. P. 18], with the aim of correcting and saving a person. “Only to the most perfect Christians,” writes St. Ignatius, “mainly from the monks, who were worthy to see with the eyes of their souls, the world of spirits was opened: but there were very few such Christians even in the most flourishing times of monasticism, according to the testimony of the Venerable Macarius the Great. The property of all visions sent by God , - notes Saint John Climacus, - lies in the fact that they bring humility and tenderness to the soul, fill it with the fear of God, the consciousness of our sinfulness and insignificance. On the contrary, visions into which we arbitrarily invade, in opposition to the will of God, lead us into arrogance. , into conceit, bring joy, which is nothing more than the satisfaction of our vanity and conceit that we do not understand" [Ibid. T. 3. P. 18].

Therefore, all holy fathers and ascetics, experienced in spiritual life, resolutely and strictly warn Christians against falling into the so-called. delusion, that is, into spiritual self-deception, in which a person mistakes his neuropsychic, and often demonic, agitations and the false visions and false revelations they generate for the action of thanking God for the truth.

For what reason can a person fall into delusion? The Fathers answer that “all types of demonic delusion to which the ascetic of prayer is subjected arises from the fact that repentance is not placed at the basis of prayer, that repentance has not become the source, the soul, the goal of prayer” [Ibid. T. 1. P. 255].

The Monk Isaac the Syrian points out another important reason. This is a search, an expectation of blessed sensations, visions and other things. Pointing to the words of the Savior: “The Kingdom of God will not come with observance” (Luke 17:20), i.e. in a noticeable way, this great mentor of monasticism says: “What we seek with observance, I mean God’s high gifts, is not approved by the Church of God; and those who accepted this acquired pride and fall for themselves. And this is not a sign that a person loves God, but spiritual disease" [Rev. Isaac the Syrian. Ascetic words. M., 1858. Sl. 55. P.372].

Saint Ignatius, continuing the thought of St. Isaac, wrote: “All the self-deluded considered themselves worthy of God; by this they revealed the pride and demonic delusion that had taken possession of their soul. Some of them accepted the demons who appeared to them in the form of angels and followed them; to others the demons appeared in their in its own form and they seemed defeated by their prayer, which led them into arrogance; others aroused their imagination, heated their blood, produced nervous movements in themselves, mistook this for blessed pleasure and fell into self-delusion, into complete darkness, and in their spirit were numbered among the rejected spirits" [Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov. Works: V 5 vol. 3 ed. St. Petersburg, 1905. T. 2. P. 126].

Rev. Gregory of Sinaite (XIV century) reminds: “Prelest, they say, appears in two forms, or, better, finds... - in the form of dreams and influences, although in pride alone it has its beginning and reason... The first image of prelest is from dreams. The second image of delusion... has its beginning... in voluptuousness, born from natural lust. In this state, the seduced one undertakes to prophesy, gives. false predictions... The demon of lewdness, having darkened their minds with a voluptuous fire, drives them crazy, dreamily presenting to them certain saints, allowing them to hear their words and see their faces" [St. Gregory of Sinaite. Chapters on commandments and dogmas. Chapter 131 // Philokalia. M., 1900. T. 5. P. 214]. Thus, hidden and sometimes obvious pride, usually combined with the imagination of God, saints and accompanied by inner voluptuousness, is the essence of the state that leads a person to false spirituality, the greatest. self-deception and final death.

Very striking examples of seduction can be cited from Roman Catholic mysticism [See. a brief and precise description of Catholic mysticism, for example, by the priest. P. Florensky in his book “The Pillar and Ground of Truth”. Note No. 400]. First an example of the first kind of lovely, from the indicated St. Gregory Sinait.

Her real father Francis of Assisi (13th century) “humbly” says about himself: “I am not aware of any sin that I could not atone for by confession and repentance” [Lodyzhensky M.V. The Invisible Light. Pg., 1915. P. 129]. One day Francis prayed for a long time (the subject of the prayer is extremely indicative) “for two mercies”: “The first is that I... could... experience all the suffering that You, Sweetest Jesus, experienced in Your painful passion. And the second mercy... is so that... I can feel... that unlimited love with which You, the Son of God, burned." (It was not the feelings of his sinfulness and imperfection that bothered Francis, but his frank claims to equality with Christ!) During this prayer, Francis “felt himself completely transformed into Jesus,” whom he immediately saw in the form of a six-winged seraphim. After this vision, Francis developed painful bleeding wounds (stigmas) - traces of the “suffering of Jesus” [Ibid. P. 109]. His dying words were: “I did what I had to do” [Ibid. P. 112]. For comparison, let us cite the same dying moment from the life of St. Sisoes the Great (5th century). “Surrounded at the moment of his death by the brethren, at that moment when he seemed to be talking with invisible persons, Sisa, to the question of the brethren: “Father, tell us, with whom are you talking?” - he answered: “It was the angels who came to take me, but I pray to them that they will leave me for a short time to repent." When the brethren, knowing that Sisoes was perfect in virtues, objected to him: "You have no need for repentance, father," Sisoes responded like this: " Truly, I do not know whether I have even made the beginning of my repentance" [Ibid. p. 133]. This deep understanding of one's imperfection is the main distinguishing feature of all true saints.

The second kind of charm Let us illustrate with excerpts from the “Revelations of Blessed Angela” - also a Catholic saint (1309) [Revelations of Blessed Angela. M., 1918].

The Holy Spirit says to her: “My daughter, My sweet one, I love you very much” (p. 95): “I was with the apostles, and they saw Me with their bodily eyes, but they did not feel Me the way you feel” (p. .96). And Angela herself reveals this: “I see the Holy Trinity in the darkness, and in the Trinity itself, Which I see in the darkness, it seems to me that I stand and abide in the middle of It” (p. 117). She expresses her attitude towards Jesus Christ, for example, in the following words: “I could bring all of myself inside Jesus Christ” (p. 176). Or: “I screamed and wanted to die from His sweetness and from the grief of His departure” (p. 101) - and at the same time she began to beat herself in rage so that the nuns were often forced to carry her out of the church (p. 83) .

A harsh, but essentially completely correct assessment of Angela’s “revelations” is given by one of the greatest Russian religious thinkers of our century, A.F. Losev. He writes, in particular: “Seduction and deception by the flesh leads to the fact that the Holy Spirit appears to blessed Angela and whispers to her such loving speeches: “My daughter, My sweet, My daughter, My temple, My daughter, My delight, love Me, for I love you very much, much more than you love Me." The saint is in sweet languor, she cannot find a place for herself from the yearnings of love. And the beloved keeps appearing and appearing and increasingly inflames her body, her heart, her blood. The Cross Christ appears to her as a marriage bed...

What could be more opposite to the Byzantine-Moscow stern and chaste asceticism than these constant blasphemous statements: “My soul was received into the uncreated light and ascended”, these passionate looks at the Cross of Christ, at the wounds of Christ and at the individual members of His Body, this forcibly causing bloody stains on one’s own body, etc. and so on.? To top it all off, Christ hugs Angela with his hand, which is nailed to the Cross, and she, all out of languor, torment and happiness, says: “Sometimes from this very close embrace it seems to the soul that it is entering into the side of Christ. And the joy that it accepts there, and the insight is impossible to tell. After all, they were so great that sometimes I could not stand on my feet, but I lay there and my tongue was taken away... And I lay there, and my tongue and body parts were taken away" [Losev A.F. Essays on ancient symbolism and mythology. M., 1930. T. 1. P. 867-868].

The “revelations” of another great Catholic saint are no less indicative. “Teacher of the Church” Teresa of Avila (16th century) exclaims before her death: “Oh, my God, my Husband, finally I will see You!” This extremely strange exclamation is not accidental. He is a natural consequence of Teresa’s entire “spiritual” feat, the essence of which is revealed at least in the following fact.

After his numerous appearances, “Christ” says to Teresa: “From this day you will be My wife... From now on I am not only your Creator, God, but also your Spouse” [Merezhkovsky D.S. Spanish mystics. Brussels, 1988. P. 88]. “Lord, either suffer with You, or die for You!” - Teresa prays and falls exhausted under these caresses, rolls her eyes, breathes more and more quickly and a shudder runs through her whole body. If a wicked but experienced woman in love, writes Merezhkovsky, had seen her at that moment, she would have understood... what it all meant, and would only have been surprised that there was no man with Teresa; and if this woman was experienced in witchcraft, she would have thought that with Teresa, instead of a man, that unclean spirit, which sorcerers and witches call “incubus” [Ibid. P. 73]. “The Beloved calls the soul with such a piercing whistle,” Teresa recalls, “that one cannot help but hear it. This call affects the soul in such a way that it is exhausted from desire” [Ibid. P. 69]. It is no coincidence that the famous American psychologist William James, assessing her mystical experience, wrote that “her ideas about religion boiled down, so to speak, to an endless love flirtation between the admirer and his deity” [James V. The Variety of Religious Experience. /Trans. from English M., 1910. P. 337].

The mystical experience of one of the pillars of Catholic mysticism, the founder of the Jesuit order, Ignatius of Loyola (16th century), is based on the methodological development of imagination. His book “Spiritual Exercises”, in which, in his words, “even the Gospel becomes superfluous” [Bykov A.A. I. Loyola. His life and social activities. St. Petersburg, 1890. P. 28], enjoys very great authority in Catholicism. It provides another striking illustration of the deeply damaged understanding of spiritual life in Roman Catholicism. Imagination of the crucified Christ, an attempt to penetrate into the world of His feelings and sufferings, mental conversations with the Crucified One, etc. - all this fundamentally contradicts the foundations of spiritual achievement, as it is given in the experience of the lives of saints Universal Church, and leads to complete spiritual and mental disorder of the ascetic, and hence to any kind of “revelations”.

Here are some brief excerpts from the Spiritual Exercises. Thus, the contemplation of the “First Day of the Incarnation of God the Word” consists of several preludes. The first prelude is “to imagine, as if it were before your eyes, the entire historical course of the mystery of the incarnation - namely, how the Three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity look at this earth... how the Holy Trinity, touched by suffering, decides to send Word... how... the Archangel Gabriel appeared as a messenger to the blessed Virgin Mary."

The second prelude consists "of a vivid imagination of the area... where the Holy Virgin lives."

The third prelude is “a plea for my knowledge... of the secrets of the incarnation of the Word...” [Lodyzhensky M.S. The Invisible Light. Pg., 1915. S. 139-140].

And one more example of contemplating a conversation with Christ. “This conversation,” Loyola instructs, takes place when a person imagines before him Jesus Christ crucified on the cross...” “Having thus fixed my gaze on Jesus crucified, I will tell Him everything that my mind and my heart tell me.. . This conversation can be compared to a conversation between two friends... "[Ibid. P. 140].

St. Nile of Sinai (450) warns: “Do not want to see sensually the Angels or the Powers, or Christ, lest you go crazy, mistaking the wolf for a shepherd, and bowing to your demon enemies” [Rev. Neil of Sinai. 153 chapters on prayer. Ch. 115 // Philokalia: In 5 volumes. T. 2. 2nd ed. M., 1884. P. 237].

The Venerable Simeon the New Theologian (11th century), speaking about those who during prayer “imagine heavenly blessings, the ranks of angels and the abodes of saints,” directly says that “this is a sign of delusion.” “Standing on this path, those who see the light with their bodily eyes, smell incense with their sense of smell, hear voices with their ears, and the like” [Ven. Simeon the New Theologian. About three types of prayer // Philokalia. T. 5. M., 1900. S. 463-464].

St. Gregory of Sinaite (14th century) reminds: “Never accept anything you see, sensual or spiritual, outside or inside, even if it was the image of Christ, or an Angel, or some saint... He who accepts it... is easily seduced. .. God is not indignant at the one who carefully listens to himself if, for fear of deception, he does not accept what is from Him, .. but rather praises him as wise" [Rev. Gregory Sinait. Instruction for the Silent // Ibid. P. 224].

As a rule, the state of delusion is characterized by fanaticism, breathing fervor and exaltation [Ep. Ignatius Brianchaninov. Works: In 5 volumes. T. 1. 3rd ed. St. Petersburg, 1905. P. 559]. According to the firm assurance of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov and Feofan Govorov, as well as the Optina elders, the famous book “On the Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a à Kempis (1471) and a lot of other Catholic and Protestant-sectarian edifying and ascetic literature were written from a state of delusion [Ibid. T. 4. P. 499].

Thus, in order to judge the truth or falsity of individual revelations, it is necessary to know the spiritual state of a given Christian, the correctness of his adherence to the ascetic teaching of the Orthodox Church, which is usually revealed quite clearly from his writings, letters, etc., it is necessary to take into account the very character experienced visions and revelations. The general and firm rule of the Church is to avoid, withdraw from, and not accept any visions in every possible way in view of the spiritual blindness and hidden pride inherent in all of us.

§ 4. Evaluation of natural knowledge of God

In assessing natural knowledge of God, the Holy Tradition of the Church is the only reliable criterion, since it is nothing other than the Gospel of Christ, experienced and revealed in all its depth and accuracy by the saints of the Orthodox Church. It makes it possible to judge the truth or falsity, good or evil of various ideas and concepts that arise on the path of seeking God. For natural knowledge of God, even at its highest points, achieved nothing more than knowledge of only the most general properties of God, lying, so to speak, on the surface, and therefore could not give man either a full understanding of God or knowledge of the true path of unity with Him. All so-called natural religions and the entire history of philosophy testify to this quite convincingly.

To what highest understanding of God has natural thought arrived? - The One, Personal, World-Shaper, Almighty, Fair Judge. Hence the main principle of natural morality - justice (the so-called " Golden Rule": do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself).

Natural knowledge of God could not in principle (!) (since this not only did not follow from any natural premises, but also contradicted the very logic of “common sense”) to achieve an understanding of God as Trinitarian, as Love, the second Hypostasis of Whom is real, unfused, unchangeable , inseparably and eternally took into Herself human nature; she humbled herself in it for the sake of saving man to the Cross; healed in Herself and resurrected human nature (Christ is Risen!), becoming the “Firstborn from the dead” and laying the foundation for the general Resurrection, commanding this sacrificial love (even for enemies) as the immutable and only bristly law of human life. ^

All these Christian dogmas go beyond the boundaries of those natural ideas and philosophical conclusions to which human thought about God came before Christ. Thus, these dogmas testify to their unnatural, divinely revealed character, emphasizing at the same time the deep insufficiency of human reason and the need for self-revelation of God [See, for example: Glagolev S.S. Supernatural Revelation and natural knowledge of God outside the Church. Kharkov, 1900]

Unfortunately, in most cases, this truth about the abnormality and imperfection of the mind is not accepted, and therefore they seek the truth not as God, who grants salvation from the absurdity of sin and spiritual death, but as some kind of intellectual, logically justified abstraction that can be put in the storehouses of memory, not changing your inner man.

This is especially clearly manifested among those religious seekers, philosophers and thinkers who, even having found, according to their assurance, the Truth in Christ, nevertheless go into the jungle of philosophy (often called theology) (In this regard, many of the works of V. Solovyov are indicative, N. Berdyaev, Archpriest S. Bulgakov, etc.). The internal reason for such deviation is that Divine Truth requires renunciation of one’s “old man,” while abstract truth provides him with complete “freedom” to “discover” the secrets of the spiritual world, leaving all passions (especially vanity and pride) alone.

Such “fascination with philosophy and empty deception according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. II, 8) is a particularly common disease of the fairly educated, but spiritually weakened part of the clergy, theologians, and intelligentsia. Very few of the seekers of God are seriously interested in experience of true philosophers, the greatest lovers of Wisdom - the holy fathers, and take the path of their lives. The majority follows the long, easy path (Matthew 7:13) of religious and philosophical games, thus losing their lives, being seduced and seducing others.

Invaluable assistance in assessing the diverse ideas that are born on the path of the natural search for God can be provided by the works of the Orthodox Fathers of the Church, the essence of whose teaching and experience is especially accessible, deeply and accurately outlined for modern man in his works and letters by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov.

The term “revelation” in theology is usually understood as those actions through which God reveals Himself and His will to people. Moreover, revelations can be sent down either by the Lord himself or come from any intermediaries or through sacred texts. Most people in modern world professes three main religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which are based on Divine Revelation.

What is supernatural revelation?

In all major world religions, it is customary to separate such concepts as supernatural revelation and natural knowledge of God, which is also often called revelation. The supernatural form refers to a wide range of Divine actions aimed at imparting to people the knowledge necessary for their salvation. In this regard, among theologians (theologians) there are two different concepts - general and individual Revelation.

What its general form is is clear from the name itself - this is a Divine message addressed to a significant number of people, perhaps even to an individual nation or humanity as a whole. Such general Revelation is the Holy Scripture and the Holy Scripture of the New Testament, as well as the sayings of the prophets and apostles, which were the result of the influence of the Holy Spirit on them.

In them, Revelations are given to people created in the image and likeness of God, but as a result of original sin, they have lost unity with their Creator, and, as a result, are doomed to eternal death. It was for the salvation of all mankind that Jesus Christ appeared in our world, bringing with Him the greatest teaching that history had never known before. This category also includes Revelations of angels and other ethereal forces, for example, the gospel of Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.

Gospel Revelation

In the General Revelation, revealed through the holy evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as in people, the foundations of a new doctrine were taught, in which the truth about the Divine Trinity, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, His crucifixion, and subsequent resurrection was revealed. There it was also reported about the second, future coming of the Savior, the general resurrection and the Last Judgment. These were no longer the Old Testament commandments, but Revelations to the people of the New Testament.

Prophecies and their fulfillment

The supernatural nature of the Christian Revelations is indisputably evidenced by the fulfillment of the prophecies contained in them, which in their essence could not be made on the basis of any calculations or historical analysis. They extend into the distance for many centuries and even millennia.

It is enough to remember the Gospel words of Jesus Christ that over time the Gospel will be preached to all nations and throughout the entire universe. He pronounced them to a narrow circle of His followers, and meanwhile, having gone through all the persecution, Christianity today has become one of the main religions of the world.

The words of the Virgin Mary that all generations would glorify (please) Her might also seem incredible, and yet for almost 2 thousand years the entire Christian world has been paying homage to Her. How can one naturally explain Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, which came true forty years later? Thus, all subsequent history has undeniably proven that the Gospel prophecies are nothing more than the Revelations of the new age that came on earth with the coming of the Son of God. They could not become the fruit of the activity of any, even the most powerful human mind.

Individual Revelation

What Revelations are, given to individuals (most often saints), can be understood by reading patristic literature - books written by the church fathers, canonized after they completed their earthly journey. As a rule, they do not communicate new, previously unknown truths, but only create the prerequisites for a deeper knowledge of what was revealed in general Revelations.

A characteristic feature of individual revelations is that, according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, set forth in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, they “cannot be retold” word for word to other people. Therefore, from the patristic writings and hagiographic literature (the lives of the saints) one can only learn the external side of the miracle that occurred. As a rule, they speak about the state of people at the moment of the Revelation given to them, their experiences and feelings.

The danger of unauthorized intrusion into the spiritual world

Regarding the issue of individual Revelations, the Christian Church draws the attention of its followers to the inadmissibility of attempts to unauthorized penetration into the spiritual world. In this case, curiosity combined with frivolity and daydreaming can lead to the most disastrous consequences.

That is why Orthodoxy has an extremely negative attitude towards spiritualism. There are many cases where attempts to communicate with the spirits of dead people ended in difficult situations. mental disorders and even suicides. The church fathers explain the reason for this by saying that in most cases, it is not those to whom they turn that come into contact with spiritualists, but demons - the dark spirits of the underworld, bringing with them madness and death.

Falsifications of Divine Revelations

Unauthorized penetration into the spiritual world is not only dangerous, but also fraught with the generation of false revelations. A striking example of this can be the activities of such organizations, deeply alien to true Orthodoxy, as the “Virgin Center” and “White Brothers”. The extreme arbitrariness they allow in the interpretation of Christian teaching often leads people who have fallen under their influence to severe mental and physical trauma. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that they are trying to pass off their fabrications as Divine Revelation.

What is natural knowledge of God?

In addition to the above-mentioned forms of knowledge of God, in the tradition of the Christian church there is also the concept of natural, or universal Revelation. In this case, we mean the opportunity to know God, which He gives to people through the world He created, nature and man himself. A characteristic feature of natural Revelation is that it does without the intervention of supernatural forces, and to comprehend it only the mind of man and the voice of his conscience are necessary.

Since those ancient times, when a person realized himself as a part of the world around him, he has not ceased to sing of its beauty and harmony. An endless number of examples of this can be found in religious and secular literature, in the most ancient monuments of bygone civilizations, and in modern art.

Since believers give an unequivocal answer to the question of who is the creator of this world - God, then they attribute the credit for creating all the splendor that surrounds them to Him. Further, it is not difficult to draw a parallel between how, contemplating the artist’s work, we get a clear idea of ​​the depth and peculiarities of his talent, and how, seeing the diversity, greatness and harmony of the forms of the world, we draw a conclusion about the wisdom, goodness and omnipotence of its Creator.

Gospel sealed in the world

Visible nature is a kind of book in which the deeds of God are eloquently narrated in a language accessible to all people of the world. Not only church ministers, but also people of science have repeatedly testified to this. It is well known, for example, the statement of Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, in which he calls nature the Gospel, incessantly preaching about the creative power of God. The scientist adds that the visible world is a true preacher of the wisdom, omnipotence and greatness of the Creator.

However, with all this, it should be taken into account that natural Revelation, like any other, cannot give an idea of ​​the fullness of Divine existence, and the human mind is powerless in comprehending it. It is for this reason that, revealing Himself, God Himself descends to man. The Holy Fathers teach that it is impossible to know the Creator without His will, manifested in various kinds of Revelations given to people.

Contemporary Evidence of God's Will

An innumerable number of messages addressed to people from the Upper World indicate that the concept often found in literature " final revelation"can be perceived only in its ordinal meaning, but not as the final process of communication between God and man, which began with the creation of the world. Beginning from the time when the Lord spoke through the mouth of the Old Testament prophets to His chosen people, and throughout all subsequent centuries, testimonies of His invariably appeared expressions of will.

Therefore, even today, waiting for the promised second coming of the Lord, Christians carefully follow everything that in one way or another may contain the Revelation of God. In this case, we are talking mainly about ancient texts that have received new interpretations and new understanding in the mouths of modern theologians.

In addition, it is worth mentioning the extremely rare cases that still occur today when the Lord in one form or another expresses His will through the ministers of the church chosen by Him for this high mission. In this regard, we can mention the so-called Revelations to the people of the New Year, that is, manifestations of Divine will at the turn when the old year gives way to the new.

Straight Talk

In conclusion, we note that the word “revelation” itself, in addition to the purely religious meaning in which it was discussed above, also has its own secular interpretation. In most dictionaries, it is defined as an explanation of something hidden in mystery and inaccessible to a wide circle of people. Usually these are recognitions of some facts that were not previously made public.

The One in Heaven, who created man in His image and likeness, wants to see His reflection in him. The loving Lord is constantly with people, but not everyone allows Him into their lives.

To know the essence and character of the Creator, in order to become who He created us, His likeness, we must learn to hear the revelations of the Creator.

Why are Revelations from God given to people?

The Creator created man for His glory, so that he, having passed the earthly path, which is very short in comparison with Eternal life, would sit with the Omnipresent in Heaven.

Divine revelation

Without the Most High Creator, God's messages, it is impossible to live in holiness and submission, transforming into His image and likeness. There are several ways to understand what Divine Revelation is and learn to hear it:

• staying in prayer;
• research into the lives of saints;
• regular visits to the temple;

How to pray correctly:

Having Divine revelation, an Orthodox believer lives a full life, receiving knowledge and “nourishment” from the Creator. God reveals himself to people as they grow spiritually. (Deut. 29:29). It is in vain to try to independently comprehend the mystery and boundlessness of the Holy Trinity, Its unity.

Important! Without Divine Revelations, all attempts to delve into the secrets of the world created by the Creator, according to Blessed Augustine, are similar to attempts to transfer the sea into a sand hole with the palms of our hands.

How God reveals himself to people

Love for His creation became one of the reasons for the appearance of God's discoveries before people. The Creator wants to save all people and spend time with them on the new earth.

When humanity began to forget its Creator, choosing many gods for worship, Jehovah created His people, the Jews. The first Jew on earth was Abraham, a faithful and obedient man to God, who knew how to hear and listen to the Creator of the world and worship him.

Jew means a wanderer who left his land.

Abraham

Thanks to the revelation of the Creator to people, his visions through Abraham, his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, the Creator led a multi-million people out of Egypt, who survived in the desert, spending 40 years there, thanks to the visions of the Holy Spirit and the ability to hear the voice of the Creator.

The Almighty reveals Himself in nature, in the natural world. All processes in the human body are interconnected; it is impossible for the human mind to understand the uniqueness of this phenomenon. All cycles occurring in nature are subordinated to God's order; human intervention, which is not by the will of the Creator, ends in disaster.

In the world around us, God manifests Himself in order, regular repetitions, and expediency. The beautiful, bright, colorful world of nature is a hymn to the Creator. The Bible, the Holy Scripture, filled with God's Revelations, is called upon to reveal the Almighty to people.

Bible, Holy Scripture

In the New Testament, through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator is revealed as a loving Father, Teacher, Savior and Healer.

The ability to read God's discoveries strengthens human faith, fills with spiritual strength, and gives confidence in the future. The letters to the churches, written more than 2 thousand years ago, are filled with spiritual guidance for modern Orthodox believers. The Lord transmitted many of His messages, such as the Revelations of John the Theologian, the book of the prophet Daniel and others, in encrypted form, they can be read by people who know the essence and nature of Existence.

Important! By reading the Bible, plunging into its depths, each person can find in it personal messages from the Creator, helping to change character, learn to love people, become obedient to the Word and faithful to God.

God's messages are filled with:

• advice;
• warnings;
• recipes for happiness;
• descriptions of future events;
• pictures of heaven and hell.

All the Creator’s letters to people are striking in their unity in the diversity of languages ​​in which Holy Scripture was written, the time of writing and the forms of presentation of the Creator’s thoughts.

Through Holy Scripture The Almighty conveyed to people the plan of salvation and inheritance of eternal life.

About the Bible texts:

The main paths of God's revelations

The Creator’s revelation to people through His messages focuses on the desire of the Creator Himself to reveal itself to people so that they have saving faith and honor Him.

According to Archimandrite Sophrony, people cannot know the Almighty if he Himself does not reveal itself to them.

Metropolitan Hilarion emphasizes that the Supreme Being can speak, hear, see, think and help. The Creator meets His children face to face. Hilarion calls Jesus a living revelation, the Creator, who came to earth to reveal God to people through Himself and His revelations.

The Almighty is revealed in the Bible through His names. For many centuries, people have heard the Existing, Eternal, True, Righteous, Saving, Holy and Just Creator. He revealed himself in the Son - Savior, Healer, through Beauty, Love, Life, Wisdom.

Jesus Christ

Through Jesus, God appeared to the world in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16), while remaining an unsolved mystery, the knowledge of which will last forever.

Three stages of God's revelations to people

1. For the first time, the Creator reveals Himself in the Old Testament through prophets, judges, kings and other people. This stage of Epiphany is called preparatory.
2. The central part of Divine revelations is the New Testament, in which, through Jesus Christ, Orthodox believers can see the essence and character of Being, as a confirmation of the Old Testament discoveries.
3. The Revelation of the Apostle John is the final part of the appearance and messages from the Creator set forth in Holy Scripture.

The Great Creator continues to reveal himself to people throughout the history of the world created by God.

How God Reveals Himself to the World

The Apostle Paul wrote that God reveals Himself to the world in many ways. (Heb. 1:1)

From the traditions of the Old Testament it is known that God was represented in the form of a fireproof bush, a ladder along which angels walked, a pillar that accompanied the Jews through the desert, in the quiet breath of the wind (1 Kings 19:9-12).

Moses and the Burning Bush

The Lord, who revealed His requirements in the Ten Commandments, gave the tablets to Moses, presenting Himself in the fire with peals of thunder and lightning, a trumpet voice and a thick cloud.

God revealed himself to Abraham in the person of three elders, as a prototype of the Holy Trinity.

The joy and honor of seeing the Holy Trinity in the guise of elders dressed in white, luminous robes was granted to Holy Father Alexander of Svirsky in 1507. Now a temple has been built on the site of this phenomenon near Lake Roshchinskoye.

Jesus Christ repeatedly revealed himself to people, appearing to them in a bright appearance in hospitals, prisons, at war, and in difficult moments of life. Jesus ascending to the Father on a cloud was seen by many people, who received confirmation of Divine messages in this.

“Beloved, as you see Him speaking with you in Three Persons, build a church in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Consubstantial Trinity... I leave you My peace and I will give you My peace.”

Reading the Revelation of John, recorded during the apostle’s stay before the throne of God more than 2 thousand years ago, Orthodox people understand that the time has now come when the end of earthly existence is near.

Soon the time of the beast will come and there will be a mark on the right hand and forehead, perhaps these are modern chips, and those who survive to the end will be saved. The Bible warns about this. This is revealed in the message conveyed to earthlings through the Apostle John.

The Gracious Creator in His Revelation confirmed that there will be a new earth, new world where the righteous will live.

Advice! Divine Revelations should be explored by everyone Orthodox Christian to have faith and go all the way with confidence to enter the Kingdom of Eternal Life, holding on guiding star- Bibles.

Divine revelation in Orthodoxy